Control valves are commonly used to control one or more actuators or other movable members in a hydraulic or pneumatic system, such as for use in operating machinery in a factory, for example. Each movable member in the system is typically controlled by the movement of a valve member, such as a spool, that moves within a valve body to permit, restrict and/or control the flow of the working fluid through different fluid passages in the valve body, thereby controlling the movement of the actuator or other movable member. A valve bank is an assembly of such control device(s), which may include a single control valve to operate a single movable member, or which may include a plurality of control valves to operate a plurality of movable members.
Such valve banks are often mounted onto equipment or workstations on a factory floor to control the nearby pneumatic or hydraulically operated machines. However, such valve banks are often relatively heavy, sometimes weighing more than 50 lbs. This makes the mounting of these valve banks difficult, especially when the valve bank is mounted to a panel or other substrate that is oriented vertically. As such, the mounting of such valve banks may require more than one person to hold the valve bank in position, drilling mounting holes into the panel at positions that correspond with fastening receivers of the valve bank, and fixedly fasten the valve bank to the panel with fasteners received into the fastening receivers and mounting holes.
Currently, the use of DIN rails is employed to assist in temporarily holding such valve banks to the panel or similar substrate so that the installer can drill the mounting holes and fixedly mount the valve bank to the panel in the manner described above. The DIN rail typically includes a long metal strip that is attached to the panel with fasteners. The long metal strip of the DIN rail will usually have a U-shaped or C-shaped cross-section that forms a channel. The valve bank usually has a corresponding interface, such as an elongated ridge and groove, that is adapted to slide into the channel through an end of the DIN rail, thereby securing the valve bank to the DIN rail so that the valve bank can then be fixedly mounted to the panel. The problem with such current DIN rail designs, however, is that they do not restrict slidable movement of the valve bank along the rail, and thus they will not prevent the valve bank from sliding off the rail when the valve bank and DIN rail are oriented vertically (i.e., pointing toward the ground).